Please note: Many of the very problematic issues and views within Islam and its history are often rejected or subject to widely varying knowledge and opinions (if any) by Muslim cultures and many people who identify as Muslim today

"There is far more violence in the Bible than in the Qur'an; the idea that Islam imposed itself by the sword is a Western fiction, fabricated during the time of the crusades when, in fact, it was Western Christians who were fighting brutal holy wars against Islam." This quote sums up the single most influential argument currently serving to deflect the accusation that Islam is inherently violent and intolerant: All monotheistic religions, proponents of such an argument say, and not just Islam, have their fair share of violent and intolerant scriptures, as well as bloody histories. Thus, whenever Islam's sacred scriptures are highlighted as demonstrating the religion's innate bellicosity, the immediate rejoinder is that other scriptures, specifically those of Judeo-Christianity, are as riddled with violent passages. But is that really the case? Does Hebrew violence in the ancient era, and Christian violence in the medieval era compare to, explain away or even legitimize the tenacity of Muslim violence in the modern era? (read more)